Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
Ella Baker Zumwalt scrapbooks, 1933-1999
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Zumwalt, Ella Baker
- Title
- Ella Baker Zumwalt scrapbooks
- Dates
- 1933-1999 (inclusive)19331999
1983-1999 (bulk)19831999 - Quantity
- 9 linear feet, (6 boxes)
- Collection Number
- WCMss.018
- Summary
- This collection houses scrapbooks of newspaper clippings and personal photographs of a woman, Ella Baker Zumwalt, who resided in Northeastern Oregon.
- Repository
-
Whitman College and Northwest Archives
Whitman College and Northwest Archives
Penrose Library, Room 130
345 Boyer Avenue
Walla Walla, WA
99362
Telephone: 5095275922
Fax: 5095264785
archives@whitman.edu - Access Restrictions
-
Collection is open for research.
- Languages
- English
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Biographical NoteReturn to Top
Ella Maude Baker was born on August 16, 1918 at a hospital in Chase, British Columbia, Canada. Her parents, Walter Scott Baker (b. 1893 in Burtrum, Minnesota) and Jesse Maude Leib (b. 1900 in Hot Springs, Arkansas), were married in 1916 in Lincoln County, Montana. In 1917, her parents moved to British Columbia to homestead. Ella Maude Baker was their only child.
From the mid-1920s through the mid-1930s, the family lived in Chehalis, Washington and Medford, Oregon, where Walter Baker worked in agriculture and the lumber industry. In 1934, Walter Baker and Jesse Leib Baker separated. Ella Baker moved to Eureka, Montana to live with her grandmother. There she met and married William Wayne Workman in 1935. They had four children: Alma Lee (b. 1936), Barbara Ramona (b. 1937), William Rodney (b. 1938), and Patricia Marie (b. 1940). After living in Idaho and Washington, Ella Baker and William Workman separated in 1947.
After the divorce, Ella Baker and her three living children moved to LaGrande, Oregon. In 1954, Ella Baker was remarried to Howard O. Zumwalt, a rural mail carier. Ella Baker Zumwalt worked for many years as a proofreader for the LaGrande Evening Observer.
In 1977, after both Ella and Howard Zumwalt had retired, they moved to Milton-Freewater, Oregon. For twenty years, they enjoyed golfing and fishing together. In 1997, after Howard's death, Ella Baker Zumwalt moved to Clarkston, Washington to live near one of her children.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
The thirteen scrapbooks, some of which are homemade, contain primarily clippings from local and national newspapers, including the Wallowa County Chieftan, the Walla Walla Union Bulletin, and the LaGrande Observer. The articles cover a variety of topics, ranging from local history, politics, deaths of local and national celebrities, and weather. Photographs, correspondence, and ephemera may also be found in the scrapbooks. An additional folder containing five photographs of Ella Baker Zumwalt at various stages of her life rounds out the collection.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates | |
---|---|---|---|
Box | Folder | ||
1 | 1 | Photographs | 1933-1988 |
1 | Scrapbooks | 1950-1989 | |
2 | Scrapbooks | 1983-1986 | |
3 | Scrapbooks | 1985-1991 | |
4 | Scrapbooks | 1987-1993 | |
5 | Scrapbooks | 1991-1997 | |
6 | Scrapbooks | 1995-1999 |